Masculinity For Millennials

Is Your Body Masculine Enough? Maybe It's Time We Stopped Worrying About It

When we experience uncertainty at so fundamental a level as our masculine identity, retailers employ very smart people to determine how to best fill that void. With fitness, they’ll promise to give you “the body you want in just XX days.” Great idea, but like I said no one really knows what “body” they want anymore, or at least there’s no great consensus. That works perfectly for them, because no matter whose advice you take or plan you follow, it’s unlikely you’ll ever be truly satisfied with the results. When that happens, they’re perfectly happy to offer you the “next phase” or the “REAL way to get the results you want.” It becomes one big merry go round, except instead of horses we’re hopping from CrossFit to gluten-free diets to P90X, all to fit a mold that we can’t actually see.

This ends up appealing even more so to millennials, because a) we believe we’re “above” being marketed to and b) we hate making the “wrong” decision. Our favorite thing in the world is to spend hours on the internet, scouring blogs and message boards to find the “correct” answer to our problem. Once you fall down that rabbit hole it’s hard to stop, and that’s what they want — eventually, you’ll get fatigued and finally give in and settle on something. Our quest to weed through the bullshit ends with our getting caught in it more often than not.

For one thing, divorce yourself from the notion that your manhood is tied to any particular physical appearance — the rest of the world seems to already have done so. If you do want to get in shape, though, put your blinders on: you already know how to do that. It’s exercise, and hard exercise. I will say that this website has a wealth of resources, particularly articles by James Fell (for busting fitness myths) and John Romaniello (for nerdier muscle-science stuff). Given that the content here is free, you don’t have to worry too much about them having some hidden “agenda” they want you to buy into.

With regards to eating, remember two things: One, “calories in < calories out” is the best formula we have for shrinking your gut. Two, despite that, no one’s super clear on how the body responds to food. We’re not furnaces, and thus putting in a certain amount of energy doesn’t result in a corresponding output of energy. In a way, that makes it easier: Just eat the things you know to be good. That means lots of vegetables, very little simple or processed carbs, and meat that isn’t too on the fatty side. Eat until you’re no longer hungry, not until you’re full.

You’re exactly right, with everything else in your life turning up aces, you shouldn’t feel lazy and worthless. That’s how they try to get you, though — a feeling of inadequacy is a huge tool for motivating people to subscribe to something they believe will make them better. Don’t fall for it.